1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a container having ribs designed to improve product evacuation from the container.
2. Description of the Related Art
When certain products are stored in plastic containers, these products become oxygen scavengers. This scavenging induces a vacuum that can cause the side surface of the container to collapse or buckle. Peanut butter and mayonnaise are examples of such products. One solution is to add more weight or thickening ribs to prevent collapse to improve the vacuum performance. Other approaches include a circumferential thickness of material, which creates an internally protruding rib. However, these solutions undesirably increase the container weight.
Another solution may be to provide ribs having about the same thickness to provide a structure to prevent buckling. However, these sort of ribs, by convention, have a symmetrical top to bottom profile. Further, to provide adequate hoop strength to prevent collapse, these ribs have tight corners leading into and out of the profile. While these ribs are used to resist internal pressures on the bottle, they have some drawbacks. In particular, products such as peanut butter, mayonnaise, and other food products are scooped or spatulated from their packaging for final use. The profile and blends (radii) make it difficult to evacuate product, especially products with higher viscosity. That is, it creates a profile below the rib, which makes it difficult to remove all of the product from the package using typical utensils.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved container that provides a structure for good vacuum resistance and product evacuation performance without undue increases in container weight.